Best Songs of 1982

Sandwiched in between two of my favorite songs of all-time, the other 98 tracks on this list are ones that were already part of the musical firmament by the time I my awareness of the world around me began to fully form a few years later. So it’s not so much that these songs present my earliest musical memories, but more apt to say that a large chunk of this list was the foundation for my music listening in the years to come.

This might say something, too, about the time itself, for back in 1982, it wasn’t simply that the world moved slower; it was also the case that things were allowed to stick around longer. Movies would stay in theaters for months. TV shows reran for decades. Not so much anymore; now there are too many other options in the pipeline, too many pieces of content itching to find their place in the culture.

All of which is to say that I don’t necessarily associate much of this playlist with the year 1982. A possible culprit of this collapsing of time? MTV. The network was in its first full year of operation in ’82, and fully blossomed in 1983 (especially when it finally decided to air the now-iconic “Billie Jean” video after Michael Jackson’s equally legendary Motown 25 performance). So what I am saying, obliquely, is that it took awhile for the culture to materialize back then. Perhaps, too, there is something to be said about the limitations of delivery and the gatekeepers that controlled them… but that’s another story.

Whatever the reason, and surely there are plenty, these songs defined the decade to the point that I would guess lots of people, including you, would be surprised to know that they originate in this particular year. It was one which, too, finally shed the last vestiges of the sounds of the ’70s, which is probably why so much of this playlist can be so readily reduced to its decade-based moniker. This is the first year of the Eighties which actually sounds like “the Eighties.”

For these year-end lists, I like to undertake the seemingly impossibly task of creating an hours-long mix. The order you see below represents that effort, which you can listen to via Spotify. Sadly all 100 tracks aren't available—just 5 short!—but you get the general idea. Track notes to come eventually or maybe never.

December 4, 2017

Show Grid

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

Michael Jackson

Thriller

Epic

Notes
Situation

Yaz

Upstairs at Eric’s

Sire

Notes
Let It Whip

Dazz Band

Keep It Live

Motown

Notes
Doo Wa Ditty

Zapp

Zapp II

Warner Bros.

Notes
West Coast Poplock

Ronnie Hudson & The Street People

West Coast Poplock 12"

Street People

Notes
Atomic Dog

George Clinton

Computer Games

Capitol

Notes
You Dropped a Bomb on Me

The Gap Band

Gap Band IV

Mercury

Notes
Electric Avenue

Eddy Grant

Killer on the Rampage

Portrait

Notes
She Blinded Me With Science

Thomas Dolby

The Golden Age of Wireless

Capitol

Notes
Goody Two Shoes

Adam Ant

Friend or Foe

CBS

Notes
Town Called Malice

The Jam

The Gift

Polydor

Notes
Save It For Later

The English Beat

Special Beat Service

I.R.S.

Notes
Come On Eileen

Dexys Midnight Runners

Too-Rye-Ay

Mercury

Notes
Our House

Madness

The Rise & Fall

Stiff Records

Notes
I Melt With You

Modern English

After the Snow

Sire

Notes
Mexican Radio

Wall of Voodoo

Call of the West

I.R.S.

Notes
White Wedding

Billy Idol

Billy Idol

Chrysalis

Notes
Skulls

Misfits

Walk Among Us

Slash

Notes
Blue Spark

X

Under the Big Black Sun

Elektra

Notes
Trem Two

Mission of Burma

Vs.

Ace of Hearts

Notes
Texas Serenade

The Gun Club

Miami

Animal

Notes
Never Say Never

Romeo Void

Benefactor

Columbia

Notes
No One’s Little Girl

The Raincoats

Running Away / No One’s Little Girl

4AD

Notes
Jukebox (Don’t Put Another Dime)

The Flirts

10 Cents a Dance

“O”

Notes
Vacation

The Go-Go’s

Vacation

I.R.S.

Notes
I Want Candy

Bow Wow Wow

I Want Candy

RCA

Notes
Goodbye to You

Scandal

Scandal

Columbia

Notes
I’m So Excited

Pointer Sisters

So Excited!

Planet Records

Notes
Young Love

Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson

A&M

Notes
Jump To It

Aretha Franklin

Jump To It

Arista

Notes
Why

Carly Simon

Why 12"

Mirage

Notes
More Than This

Roxy Music

Avalon

Virgin

Notes
Reap the Wild Wind

Ultravox

Quartet

Chrysalis

Notes
Temptation

New Order

Temptation 12"

Factory

Notes
Da Da Da (I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha)

Trio

Da Da Da

Mercury

Notes
The Sun and the Rainfall

Depeche Mode

A Broken Frame

Warner Bros.

Notes
Red Skies

The Fixx

Shuttered Room

MCA

Notes
I Ran

A Flock of Seagulls

A Flock of Seagulls

Arista

Notes
Talk Talk

Talk Talk

The Party’s Over

EMI

Notes
Hungry Like the Wolf

Duran Duran

Rio

Capitol

Notes
Shock the Monkey

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel

Geffen

Notes
Love My Way

The Psychedelic Furs

Forever Now

Columbia

Notes
Almost With You

The Church

The Blurred Crusade

Second Motion

Notes
The Cars She Used to Drive

Robyn Hitchcock

Groovy Decay

Albion

Notes
Someday, Someway

Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw

Warner Bros.

Notes
Wall of Death

Richard & Linda Thompson

Shoot Out the Lights

Hannibal

Notes
Tell Me When It’s Over

The Dream Syndicate

The Days of Wine and Roses

Slash

Notes
Wolves, Lower

R.E.M.

Chronic Town

I.R.S.

Notes
Neverland

The dB’s

Repercussion

Albion

Notes
Illustrated Crawling

Green on Red

Green on Red

Down There

Notes
That Girl

The Windbreakers

Meet the Windbreakers

Big Monkey

Notes
Back on the Chain Gang

Pretenders

Learning to Crawl

Sire

Notes
Somebody’s Baby

Jackson Browne

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Asylum

Notes
Do You Believe in Love

Huey Lewis & The News

Picture This

Chrysalis

Notes
Hold Me

Fleetwood Mac

Mirage

Warner Bros.

Notes
Southern Cross

Crosby, Stills & Nash

Daylight Again

Atlantic

Notes
One Step Ahead of the Blues

J.J. Cale

Grasshopper

Island

Notes
Dweller on the Threshold

Van Morrison

Beautiful Vision

Warner Bros.

Notes
I.G.Y.

Donald Fagen

The Nightfly

Warner Bros.

Notes
One on One

Daryl Hall & John Oates

H2O

RCA

Notes
Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Gary Portnoy

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Applause

Notes
Take It Away

Paul McCartney

Tug of War

Columbia

Notes
I Gotta Try

Michael McDonald

If That’s What It Takes

Reprise

Notes
Love Come Down

Evelyn “Champagne” King

Get Loose

RCA

Notes
Murphy’s Law

Cheri

Murphy’s Law

Venture

Notes
Nasty Girl

Vanity 6

Vanity 6

Warner Bros.

Notes
777-9311

The Time

What Time Is It?

Warner Bros.

Notes
1999

Prince

1999

Warner Bros.

Notes
The Message

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

The Message

Sugar Hill

Notes
Planet Rock

Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force

Planet Rock

Tommy Boy

Notes
Cutie Pie

One Way

Who’s Foolin’ Who?

MCA

Notes
Explanations

Gil Scott-Heron

Moving Target

Arista

Notes
Forget Me Nots

Patrice Rushen

Straight From the Heart

Elektra

Notes
Sexual Healing

Marvin Gaye

Midnight Love

Columbia

Notes
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

Culture Club

Kissing to Be Clever

Virgin

Notes
Africa

Toto

Toto IV

Columbia

Notes
Senses Working Overtime

XTC

English Settlement

Caroline

Notes
Black Coffee in Bed

Squeeze

Sweets From a Stranger

A&M

Notes
Heart

Nick Lowe

Nick the Knife

F-Beat

Notes
A Quick One

Ric Ocasek

Beatitude

Geffen

Notes
Steppin’ Out

Joe Jackson

Night and Day

A&M

Notes
Always on My Mind

Willie Nelson

Always on My Mind

Columbia

Notes
The Story of an Artist

Daniel Johnston

Don’t Be Scared

Gammon

Notes
Atlantic City

Bruce Springsteen

Nebraska

Columbia

Notes
Allentown

Billy Joel

The Nylon Curtain

Columbia

Notes
Jack and Diane

John Mellencamp

American Fool

Mercury

Notes
Rock the Casbah

The Clash

Combat Rock

Epic

Notes
Rip It Up

Orange Juice

Rip It Up

Polydor

Notes
Eaten by the Monster of Love

Sparks

Angst in My Pants

Atlantic

Notes
Suspended in Gaffa

Kate Bush

The Dreaming

Fish People Music

Notes
Life Goes On

The Damned

Strawberries

Dojo

Notes
Eminence Front

The Who

It’s Hard

Warner Bros.

Notes
You Got Lucky

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Long After Dark

MCA

Notes
Eye of the Tiger

Survivor

Eye of the Tiger

Volcano

Notes
Bad to the Bone

George Thorogood & the Destroyers

Bad to the Bone

EMI

Notes
Can’t Get Enough

Bonnie Raitt

Green Light

Warner Bros.

Notes
Wild Things Run Fast

Joni Mitchell

Wild Things Run Fast

Geffen

Notes
Beyond Belief

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Imperial Bedroom

Columbia

Notes
As Real As Real

The Three O’Clock

Baroque Hoedown

Frontier

Notes
Don’t Change

INXS

Shabooh Shoobah

ATCO

Notes